A fummer's day will feem an hour but short,
Being wafted in fuch time-beguiling sport.

With this, she seizeth on his fweating palm,
The precedent of pith and livelihood 7,

And, trembling in her paffion, calls it balm,
Earth's fovereign falve to do a goddess good:
Being fo enrag'd, defire doth lend her force,
Courageously to pluck him from his horse.

Over one arm the lufty courfer's rein,
Under the other was the tender boy,
Who blush'd and pouted in a dull difdain,
With leaden appetite, unapt to toy;

She red and hot, as coals of glowing fire,
He red for fhame, but frofty in defire.

The ftudded bridle on a ragged bough
Nimbly the faftens; (O how quick is love!)
The fteed is ftalled up, and even now
'To tie the rider fhe begins to prove:

Backward fhe pufh'd him, as fhe would be thruft,
And govern'd him in ftrength, though not in luft.

So foon was she along, as he was down,
Each leaning on their elbows and their hips:
Now doth the ftroke his cheek, now doth he frown,
And 'gins to chide, but foon fhe ftops his lips:
And kiffing speaks, with luftful language broken,
If thou wilt chide, thy lips fhall never open.

other women cloy

"The appetites they feed; but the makes hungry,
"Where moft fhe fatisfies."

7-he feizeth on bis fweating palm,

MALONE.

The precedent of pith and livelihood,] So, in Antony and Cleopatra, Charmian fays: "if an oily palm be not a fruitful prognoftication, I cannot scratch mine ear." STEEVENS.

Again, in Othello:

"This hand is moist, my lady;

"This argues fruitfulness and liberal heart;

"Hot, hot, and moift." MALONE.

He burns with bashful shame; the with her tears
Doth quench the maiden burning of his cheeks;
Then with her windy fighs, and golden hairs,
To fan and blow them dry again the feeks:

He faith, fhe is immodeft, blames her 'mifs;
What follows more, she murders with a kiss

Even as an empty eagle, sharp by fast,
Tires with her beak on feather, flesh, and bone1,
Shaking her wings, devouring all in haste,
Till either gorge be ftuff'd, or prey be gone;
Even fo the kifs'd his brow, his cheek, his chin,
And where the ends, fhe doth anew begin.

Forc'd to content, but never to obey,
Panting he lies, and breathing in her face;
She feedeth on the fteam, as on a prey,
And calls it heavenly moisture, air of grace;

Wishing her cheeks were gardens full of flowers,
So they were dew'd with fuch diftilling showers 3.

8- ber 'mifs;] That is, her misbehaviour. FARMER. The fame fubftantive is ufed in the 35th Sonnet. Again, in Hamle "Each toy feems prologue to fome great an ifs." MALON 9 he murders with a kiss.] Thus the edition of 1596. So, in Richard III:

"Come, coufin, canft thou quake, and change thy colour? "Murder thy breath in middle of a word ?"

The fubfequent copies have fmothers. MALONE.

1 Tires with her beak on feather, flesh, and bone,] To tire is to So, in Decker's Match me in London, a comedy, 1631:

the vulture fires

2 Ferc'd to content,-] I once thought that the meaning of the 1 words was, to content or fatisfy Venus; to endure her kifles. So, in Ha "it doth much content me to hear him fo inclin'd." But I now believe that the interpretation given by Mr. Steevens is true one. Content is a fubftantive, and means acquiefcence. MALO It is plain that Venus was not fo easily contented. Forc'd to con I believe, means that Adonis was forced to content himself in a situa from which he had no means of efcaping. Thus Caffio in Orbello: "So fhall I clothe me in a forc'd content." STEEVENS.

3

-flowers,

So they were dew'd with fuch diffilling fotvers.] So, in Macbet "To deco the fovereign flower, and drown the weeds. STE

L

Look how a bird lies tangled in a net,
So faften'd in her arms Adonis lies;
Pure shame and aw'd refiftance made him fret,
Which bred more beauty in his angry eyes
Rain added to a river that is rank 4,
Perforce will force it overflow the bank.

*

Still the entreats, and prettily entreats,
For to a pretty ear fhe tunes her tale ';
Still is he fullen, still he low'rs and frets,
'Twixt crimson thame and anger, afhy-pale;

:

Being

* Which bred more beauty in bis angry eyes:] So, in Twelfth Night: "O, what a deal of fcorn looks beautiful

"In the contempt and anger of his lip!" MALONE;

to a river that is rank,] Full; abounding in the quantity of its

waters. So, in Julius Cæfar:

"Who elfe must be let blood, who elfe is rank ?"

Again, more appofitely in King Jobn:

"We will untread the steps of damned flight;

"And, like a 'bated and retired flood,

"Leaving our rankness and irregular course,

"Stoop low within those bounds we have o'erlook'd."

MALONE.

5 For to a pretty ear fhe tunes her tale;] Thus the old copy. I fufpect the poet wrote air. The two words were, I believe in the time of our authour, pronounced alike; and hence perhaps arofe the miftake. See p. 20, n. 3. MALONE.

This is turning Venus into a mere recitative-finger. The poet very plainly tells us that the entreats and laments prettily, because she is confcious that her entreaties and lamentations are addreffed to a pretty ear. She strives to make her difcourfe correfpond with the beauty of its object. So, the Queen in Hamlet, addreffing herfelf to the corpfe of Ophelia: "Sweets to the fweet !" Befides, is it ufual to talk of tuning any thing to an air ?" STEEVENS.

If my conjecture be right, Shakspeare, in making Venus tune her tale to a pleafing air, or, in other words, woo Adonis with that melody of voice which renders even beauty itself more attractive, only ufed the fame language that he has employed in other places, So, in The Rape of Lucrece:

"Feaft-finding minstrels, tuning my defame.” Again, more appofitely, in The Two Gentlemen of Verena :

to their inftruments "Tune a deploring dump.”

VOL, X.

Being red, fhe loves him beft; and being white,
Her beft is better'd with a more delight.

Look how he can, fhe cannot choose but love;
And by her fair immortal hand the swears
From his foft bofom never to remove,

Till he take truce with her contending tears,

Which long have rain'd, making her cheeks all wet;
And one sweet kifs fhall pay this countless debt 7.

Upon this promife did he raife his chin,
Like a di-dapper peering through a wave,
Who being look'd on, ducks as quickly in;
So offers he to give what he did crave;

But when her lips were ready for his pay,
He winks, and turns his lips another way.

Never did paffenger in fummer's heat
More thirst for drink, than fhe for this good turn.
Her help fhe fees, but help the cannot get ;
She bathes in water, yet in fire must burn:
O, pity, 'gan the cry, flint-hearted boy;
'Tis but a kifs I beg; why art thou coy?

I have been woo'd, as I entreat thee now,
Even by the stern and direful god of war;
Whose finewy neck in battle ne'er did bow,
Who conquers where he comes, in every jar;
Again, ibid.

"And to the nightingale's complaining notes

"Tune my diftreffes, and record my woes."

Tuning a tale to a pretty air, is reciting a story with harmonious cadence, as the words of a fong are recited with the accompaniment of mufick. MALONE.

6 Her best is better'd] This is the reading of the edition in 1596. That of 1636 and the modern editions read-breaft. MALONE.

7 And one

dronicus:

fweet kifs fhall pay this countless debt.] So, in Titus An

-kifs for kife

"Thy brother Marcus tenders on thy lips :

"Oh were the fum of thefe that I fhould pay

"Countless and infinite, yet would I pay them." STEEVENS.

Yet

Yet hath he been my captive and my slave,

And begg'd for that which thou unask'd fhalt have.

Over my altars hath he hung his lance,
His batter'd fhield, his uncontrolled creft,
And for my fake hath learn'd to sport and dance,
To coy, to wanton 3, dally, fmile, and jeft;
Scorning his churlish drum, and enfign red,
Making my arms his field, his tent my

bed.

Thus he that over-rul'd, I overfway'd,
Leading him prifoner in a red-rofe chain":
Strong-temper'd fteel his ftronger ftrength obey'd,
Yet was he fervile to my coy difdain.

O, be not proud, nor brag not of thy might,
For maft'ring her that foil'd the god of fight.

Touch but my lips with those fair lips of thine,
(Though mine be not fo fair, yet are they red,)
The kifs fhall be thine own as well as mine:-
What feeft thou in the ground? hold up thy head;
Look in mine eye-balls, there thy beauty lies:
Then why not lips on lips, fince eyes on eyes?

Art thou afham'd to kifs? then wink again,
And I will wink; fo fhall the day seem night;

8 To coy, to wanton, &c.] So, in A Midfummer-Night's Dream:
"While I thy amiable cheeks do coy."

See Vol. II. p. 509, n. 2.

STEEVENS.

9 Leading him prijoner in a red-rofe chain:] So Ronfard, Livre xiv. Ode xxiii:

"Les Mufes lierent un jour

"Des chaifnes de roses Amour," &c.

Several of Ronfard's Odes had been tranflated into English. See
Puttenham, 1589, as quoted to this purpose by Dr. Farmer, Vol. VIII.
W.
p. 114, n. 4.

Some of Anacreon's Odes, which Ronfard had imitated in French,
were tranflated into English; and it is very probable that the ode above
quoted was one of thofe which were tranflated; for it is an imitation
of Anacreon's thirtieth ode, beginning, A. Mera, &c. and ftands in Ron-
fard's works in the oppofite page to the Bacchanalian ode which Shak-
fpeare feems to have had in his thoughts in Timon of Athens. MALONE.
9fervile to my coy difdain.] So, in Meafure for Measure:
"Servile to all the fkiey influences."

STEEVENS.

Love